The present invention relates generally to the field of communications networks, and more particularly, to methods of providing educational content over communications networks and related devices.
A variety of problems are encountered in today's public school systems. One of the primary problems that plagues public education is the lack of funding for resources, such as textbooks. Textbooks may be a fundamental component of current public education systems, and as such, may be required for every student. Often, several books may be assigned to each student for each class. Additional and/or supplemental books may also be required during different portions of the school year, for example, for special projects. In addition, textbooks may be frequently revised by publishers, which may require replacement of entire supplies of books in the school systems in which such books are used.
Students may also physically struggle with the problem of transporting textbooks from one class to another, as verified by recent studies illustrating the physical strain being placed on students' backs. Moreover, schools themselves may impose limitations on the types of backpacks that students may carry, for example, due to rising crime rates within the school grounds. In some cases, students may also be required to carry identification to even be permitted on school grounds.
Accordingly, electronic books, also called e-books, have been developed. E-books may refer to a book that is available in electronic format. For example, e-books may be available in Adobe PDF or eBook Reader format, as well as many other formats. As such, e-books may be read on personal computers. Also, dedicated hardware devices, known as e-book readers, may also be used to view e-books.
In addition, companies such as Intel's Classmate PC and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization have developed inexpensive laptop computers for use by children, especially by those in developing countries, to provide them with access to knowledge. These rugged, low-power computers may contain flash memory instead of a hard drive, and may use mobile ad-hoc networking to provide many machines with Internet access from one connection. However, the capabilities of such devices may also be abused by children. For example, some children may use such devices to play computer games during class and/or view inappropriate content available on the World Wide Web, rather than for educational purposes. As such, these devices may be used to undermine the very quality of education that they seek to improve.